welcome back to "morning joe." michael, what did you learn today? >> take a look at this picture. president of the united states as a parent, very impornt in time. >> i learned from barnicle that 40% of guns are sold online and was reminded by mika that these violent video games are far too often baby-sitters. >> i have a riddle. who is the most dapper, suave, well dressed and charming 25-year-old in new york city? >> joey scarborough! happy 25th birthday! joey scarborough. >> i tried. can't help you. >> try it again. >> happy 25th birthday, joey scarborough. love you very much. if it is way too early, what

time is it? >> it is time for "morning joe." but right now it is time for our old pal chuck todd. all or nothing at all. this could be it, the day where we will know if a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff is truly within reach or totally lost. we have never been closer and yet boehner is looking for votes, only for a plan b. vice president biden gets tapped to lead an administration wide effort to figure out what the government can do to prevent another tragedy like the shooting in connecticut. is washington ready for a fight over guns that no one thought would happen? blast from the past. find out what michael dukakis has to say about the idea of being a u.s. senator once john kerry becomes officially the next secretary of state. being a little bit coy. could he run? here comes the new. good morning from washington. it is wednesday, december 19th,

2012. this is the. i'm chuck todd. today could be the day the two sides come together for a big deficit reduction deal or we could be 24 hours from it totally falling apart. that seems like telling you everything and nothing at the same time. but there's something to this. follow me here. the president and speaker boehner have really never been closer to a deal. they both made major concessions over the last i'd say 72 hours. the nation still mourning the tragedy in connecticut. both sides have admitted that the tone of the talks have changed. >> an event like that, as tragic as it is, brings us a little closer together. >> i continue to have hope that we can reach an agreement. it's not a time to put americans through more stress. the biggest concession from the speaker has been backing off his pledge not to raise any tax rates. he's now offering a deal to raise rates on americans making more than $1 million. boehner said he was moving ahead with -- boehner now said he's

moving ahead with what he calls a plan b making the assumption that talks may fall apart. his plan b would be just simply raising those rates on folks making over $1 million and postponing the entire spending cut debate until -- he may clal cla calculate there's more leverage in february. >> having a back-up plan to make sure as few american taxpayers are affected by this increase as possible. moving down that path is the right course of action for us. >> but boehner's attempt to find more leverage with the white house by floating an escape route meant a wasted day in the talks. his plan b was dismissed out of hand by democrats, even by one who just last year championed the same concept. >> plan b i would call it plan befuddled. it is a tactic but it is not a serious proposal. >> speaker boehner's proposal is not balanced. will not protect the middle class because it can't pass the senate. >> now democrats use the whole

millionaire idea as a political ploy six months ago as steny hoyer admitted yesterday. but meanwhile some conservatives aren't crazy about boehner's decision to concede on tax rates for any income level. >> once you cross that line and say like some people it is okay for some people's taxes to go up, i think that's a mistake for the republican party. >> i don't want to raise taxes on anybody. and i didn't come here to raise taxes or increase spending. >> so last night house republican leaders were trying to assess whether they have the votes to get their plan b to the floor and get it passed on thursday. in that scenario the house would consider two amendments to the tax legislation. one would mirror a bill passed by the senate to extend the bush rates for incomes below $250,000. another amendment would raise the threshold to $1 million. boehner's plan b, the boehner plan b. house could also vote on some middle ground amendment. here's the question -- pelosi has promised to unite democrats

against boehner's plan b which means boehner can only lose around 20 republicans. how much time does he spend twisting gop arms for what may end up being a wasted vote if boehner and the white house can strike a deal or a wasted vote if nothing ends up happening? life isn't the movies, you can't do what lincoln did, you can't buy votes anymore without pork to offer to reluctant members. boehner's equation is much more difficult than it used to be. meanwhile, president obama is hearing from progressive groups who are unhappy tat white house conceded on the big -- not just the tax issue on the threshold -- moving the threshold from $250,000 to $400,000 but this bigger concession -- the change in this cpi, the lowering the cost of living increases essentially for social security and other government programs. >> we're going to walk away from this place and we're going to make our way up over to the capitol building to let them know that we got something for santa for you. it's your lump of coal.

because you've been far too naughty! >> white house congressional aides got an earful from democrats on the hill yesterday about this so-called chained cpi which would reduce benefits for some social security recipients. oregon senator jeff merckley called it a fantasy. arizona congressman raul g. rijalva said it is a beltway figure leaf that i will never support. pelosi's line in the sand was on raising the age on medicare eligibility. that's something she couldn't help do so that's what she took off the table, meaning social security politically in this day and age is easier to touch these

days than medicare. oh, how things have changed when social security was the famous third rail of american politics. at 11:45 a.m. this morning in the brady press briefing room named for jim brady, who was the white house press secretary who was shot and permanently disabled after a 1981 assassination attempt on ronald reagan. the president will announce a task force led by vice president biden to develop a policy response to the newtown, connecticut shooting. the president is not expected to make any policy decisions but lay out a path forward on a process to come up with some policy proposals. on sunday though he did promise in newtown that he would use whatever power this office holds to prevent future tragedies. yesterday white house spokesman jay carney said that could include reexamining some gun laws. carney said the president supports senator dianne feinstein's attempt to revive the assault weapons ban as well as a ban on high-capacity

magazines. he also supports closing the so-called gun show loophole. any effort though at new restrictions on guns will kick off a new fight in washington. the nra spent $18.6 million supporting and opposing candidates during the 2012 cycle. according to the sun life found case, 51% of the numbers of the new congress have received funding from the national rifle association's political action committee at some point in their political careers. the nra is known for staying silent, running out the clock after tragedies like the one in newtown but yesterday there was a sign that they may be feeling more political pressure than ever before and from the changing tone around the country. group released a statement saying, "they are shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the newtown tragedy." out of respect for the families and as a matter of common decency we have given time for morning prayer and a full consideration of the facts before commenting. the nra is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to make sure this never happens again. the nra also announced a major

news conference in the washington, d.c. area on friday. they didn't say where. while the nra spent several days mostly quiet, not responding to media inquiries and off of social media, the group was not entirely silent. they have continued to broadcast nra news. it is a show owned and operated by the nra and it appears online each day. last night host jenny simone led her program by responding to jay carney's announcement on the president's support for a new assault weapons ban. >> more gun laws are not the answer and what we need to do is stop making schools magnets for mass murderers like adam lanza. >> the show then went on to rail against gun-free school zones saying if the teachers at newtown had been armed, they would have survived. >> good advice for senator feinstein and some of those anti-gunners on the hill to listen to some of these survivors at the school. these gun-free zones are not the

answer. people are left at sitting ducks. adam lanza knew he was going to be able to do what he wanted to do. >> earlier this month nra ceo wayne la pierre warned members to get prepared for a massive effort by the white house to take away guns. >> we are about to be victim of a siege against the second amendment in this country going into obama's second term. mean it is going to be ugly. it is going to come hard, fast and soon. >> last night a guest on the program from the independence institute predicted darkly that that effort will begin now. >> america's first freedom and the other nra magazines were saying quite strongly before the election that once obama gets past the election, he is going to take the first opportunity for some terrorist event or notorious crime and start coming after the second amendment.

that was -- that prediction of wayne la pierre and others is, unfortunately, proven to be exactly right. >> so while a seemingly change be in tone based on what the nra talked about on their -- what's going to come on friday in their news conference, what they are putting online each night in their nra news program seems to be consistent with where they have stood on these positions before, whether it's assault weapons, bans, gun-free zones, whatnot. it will be interesting to watch what they have to say on friday and who speaks for the organization on friday. finally, secretary of state hillary clinton has largely been teflon in all the scrutiny on the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi but that may be ending now. last night an independent report by the accountability review board issued a devastating critique of the state department saying "grossly inadequate security on the day of the attack and in the months leading up to it and a reliance on local militias left u.s. diplomats vulnerable in libya.

without any meaningful defense on september 11th leading to tragic results for ambassador chris stevens and three other americans that were killed. report absolves the pentagon of any plablame." secretary hillary clinton responded in a letter to house and senate committee saying she accepts everyone of the panel's recommendations and has taken steps to improve security at high-threat posts. "to fully honor those we lost we must better protect those still serving to advance our nation's vital interests and values overseas." still, not the way clinton wanted to leave the state department and it certainly adds a blemish to her record which had been pretty stellar. due to her illness she won't be testifying on benghazi tomorrow. instead her deputies will. but will she do a high-profile testimony later next month? it is likely she does simply to clean up this mess so that it doesn't hang as a cloud when she

leaves office. still clinton has been treated virtually as the presumed democratic nominee for 2016 up and through this whole benghazi episode. >> hillary in 2016? >> wouldn't that be exciting? i hope she goes. why wouldn't she? >> there are things of why clinton may want to make sure she has a high-profile place to testify next month simply to put a period on this sentence is. speaking of national security, been a rough past couple of weeks for obama's national security -- future national security team. ambassador susan rice ended up having to take herself out of consideration for the secretary of state job. and another -- now another non-nominee, if you will, republican senator chuck hagel is under fire. criticism turned into a feeding frenzy yesterday. wasn't just from republican senators, conservative groups, but also the pro-israel community and now "the washington post" editorial page who this morning said -- chuck

hagel is not the right choice for defense secretary. susan rice, now chuck hagel. neither one of them were ever actually nominated and they are getting vetted in a way without a support mechanism from the white house since they can't fully defend their nominees since these are not actual nominees yet. this has been a rough period i think to be a non-nominee for a national security post given all the other things going on and all the other focus of of the white house. to put is simply, it's been a bit sloppy. up next, arizona congressman ron barber. he was wounded when a gunman opened fire on gabby giffords nearly two years ago. now what he's saying about gun control and the precarious nature of the fiscal cliff talks. plus, a high honor for the late senator daniel inouye. 11:45 this morning we expect

the president and vice president to go to the brady press briefing room to announce the process for a response to gun violence in this country. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans,

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therefore, i, jonathan rothchild, mayor of the city of tucson, arizona, do hereby proclaim january 8th, 2013 to be january 8th remembrance day in this community. >> that was the mayor's chief of staff last night announcing plans for the second anniversary of the tucson shooting. it's been nearly two years since gunman jared loughner opened fire outside a supermarket where congresswoman gabeelle giffords

and her staff were holding a news conference. congressman barber was injured in that shooting. he joins me now. thanks for coming in. talk about the what the president is doing today. what do you hope this process -- it seems that one of the things that the white house is struggling with, how do you have this process that is -- that gets the gun rights community to stay a part of it? what do you want to hear from him this morning? >> i really believe that we can put together a broad coalition to deal with particularly the assault weapons and the heavy firepower that these large capacity magazines contain. those of us who were shot and those who were killed on january 8th were shot by a young man who had a magazine that contained 30 bullets. he unloaded those 30 bullets in less than 45 seconds and 19 people went down. we at the very least have to get people on-board about that and i believe it is possible.

let me just give you an example. i was down in wilcox, last friday. wilcox is a rural area, very strong nra community, if you will. as i was walking out this 80-year-old farmer, third generation farmer said to me, ron, i've had a gun since i was a boy. i'm an nra member for life. i hunt all the time. but you have to go back to washington and do something about assault weapons. >> how do you have the conversation with gun rights owners? maybe some will never -- will believe in the slippery slope argument that any legislation somehow will lead to more -- more of their rights will be taken away but how do you have this conversation? you probably believe a majority of your district would come down on the side of the nra on most gun issues. is that fair to say? >> i'm not sure about the majority of the whole district but certainly a significant portion of the district, that being the rural area outside of -- >> you called yourself supporter of the second amendment. you were very clear. >> i do support it. i believe that it is important that we protect the right to bear arms but i think there are

limits. we already have laws that limit the kinds of weapons -- like grenade launchers and things that you can't have to not do something about the assault weapons, the high-capacity magazines i think is irresponsible. after what happened last friday, we have to do something. the citizens that i represent are saying you've got to do something and i'm prepared to do everything i can to make something happen. >> something else that came out of the incident in tucson but also the incident at virginia tech, mental health issues and how -- what's the line here between privacy and trying to figure out a way to keep guns out of the mentally ill. might end up being a situation in connecticut we don't know the full facts there. that's going to be another aspect. >> well, i've been an advocate for mental health services all of my adult life. i worked for 32 years before i joined congresswoman giffords as the state and regional director for an agency that served people with mental illness.

i know that treatment works but i also know a lot of people just don't understand what they're seeing when they cemental illness. so i think we have to increase public awareness of the symptoms. i have a bill in play this session that i'll reintroduce at next which would establish training for what we call mental health first aid, people who can go in -- >> is this something if you see something, say something, if you feel like somebody's on the verge of having a -- maybe in a bad place, say something. >> treatment works but we have to make people more aware of what they're really seeing. when i look at loughner's parents they saw a young man who was disturbed but i don't think they knew exactly what to do about it. there are treatment methodologies and processes. but the way the current law is structured, you have to be adjudicated under dangerous to yourself and others to protect people from being basically incarcerated without process. i think the only way really quite frankly to deal with the issue of people who have mental

illness, undiagnosed or untreated, from getting assault weapons is to remove access to assault weapons and large capacity magazines. >> can you legislate culture? the other suspect of this is the violence, culture of violence. you've talked about hollywood. you hear some people talking about video games. i'm uncomfortable with some of the violence in some of these video games. i don't want my son playing these games. >> i think it is a parental responsibility ultimately to guide our kids away from those kinds of games if we don't believe that they're appropriate. i'm really more focused on what's practical and pragmatic. what's practical in my mind i think now is an assault weapon, removing access -- >> go there first an then everything else is a conversation. >> i think so. and then mental illness has to be treated. i believe the two have to go on parallel tracks. i know we're talking a lot about assault weapons and that's fine but if we don't also talk about mental illness and how we minimize it, prevent it, treat it, we're just not doing the whole job that we need to do.

>> you got some votes you hope that are coming up. we don't know if there are fiscal cliff votes coming up but i assume possibly tomorrow there will be a vote on the floor. we have these different plan bs. there was a time when there was some momentum for democrats to support this million dollar threshold that speaker boehner is proposing. would you support something like that? >> i have to see the legislation. we've heard about it. it's not been revealed to us yet with the 72-hour rule we probably won't see it until friday. i manl we'll be here if they release it friday through the weekend. i really have to take a hard look. i want a balanced approach though and i said that throughout my campaign -- all four campaigns. it has to make sure that we don't balance it on the backs of seniors. >> are you okay with the president's plan that he change this -- or are you uncomfortable with that? >> i'm not too pleased with it, to be honest. >> would you support it? >> i don't know yet.

i have to see the whole package. when you look at balanced approach, negotiations are about getting things -- giving things up on both sides. if the package that we're going to see or the bill this week we see is strictly about a tax increase on just one group, the million dollar earners involved, i don't think that's enough. i think we need more. hopefully we will have more before we're done. i'm prepared to stay as long as it takes. even though i'd love to go home to my grandkids for christmas. >> ron barber, congressman from arizona, thanks for coming in this morning. next, a change in the line of presidential succession. plus, we'll tell you who's doing more than thinking about a senate run when john kerry is nominated to be the next secretary of state. first, today's trivia question. of the 13 presidents pro tem who have served since 1945, name the only one who was not the most senior senator of his party.

first correct answer gets a call next wednesday from us. ♪ if it wasn't for you ♪ don't know what i'd do ♪ i'd have nothing to prove [ male announcer ] zales is the diamond store. save 25 percent off an amazing selection storewide, now through monday. for their annual football trip. that's double miles you can actually use. tragically, their buddy got sacked by blackouts. but it's our tradition! that's roughing the card holder. but with the capital one venture card you get double miles you can actually use. [ cheering ] any flight, anytime. the scoreboard doesn't lie. what's in your wallet? hut! i have me on my fantasy team. a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat.

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finally... [ male announcer ] when you combine creamy velveeta with zesty rotel tomatoes and green chilies, you get a bowl of queso that makes even this get-together better. on our radar this morning, a high honor in the capital. for more than a half a century to service. the remains of the late senator daniel inouye will lie in state in the rotunda of the u.s. capitol on sunday. a rare honor really reserved for presidents, veterans and other leaders. there will be a service friday at washington's national cathedral and a final memorial sunday in hawaii. governor neal abercrombie has asked the state democratic party for a list of three names to consider to fill his seat.

the senator wrote a letter to the governor telling him he wanted congresswoman-elect colleen hanabusa to succeed him in the senate. back in washington, vermont senator pat layty was sworn in tuesday to succeed inouye as the senate's president pro tem putting him third in line of presidential succession. meanwhile "the boston globe" reports congressman ed markey apparently has more than just a casual interest in filling the seat of senator john kerry when he, as we all are assuming at this point, leaves to become secretary of state. the paper reports that bay state residents are getting phone calls for a poll that sizes up markey's chances if he faced outgoing senator scott brown in a special election. meanwhile, former massachusetts governor in 1988, presidential nominee michael dukakis tells the ""globe"" it is highly unlikely he'll be the

didn't quite rule it out. ted kennedy jr., a connecticut resident, is openly considering running, assuming there is a vacancy there, in massachusetts. ted kennedy jr. been on our show a couple of times and has been fairly open about his interest in finally getting in to president -- to electoral politics. speaking of other poll news in florida, governor rick scott's job approval ratings are still under water. nearly two years into his term, 45% disapprove of his job. 36 approve. 52% say the governor does not deserve to be re-elected. a majority of republicans would like another challenger to scott for the republican nomination in 2014. vice presidential nominee paul ryan, the house budget chairman tapped georgia

congressman george price as the vice chair of the committee. a week ago price raised eyebrows for not immediately dismissing talk he might fight speaker john boehner for the top spot in the house. his office later said he would not mount a challenge. now paul ryan may be thinking about his own presidential aspirations and keeping conservatives happy. has put tom price as his number two. the opening bell just rang on wall street. yesterday stocks rallied on optimism of the fiscal cliff negotiations. meanwhile general motors plans to buy back 200 million shares of stock held by the u.s. treasury. the company will pay $5.5 billion for the shares. le federal government's plans to sell the rest of its common stock through the market according to the "wall street journal." diving back into the final days of the campaign. stories that you may not have heard yet. how romney's management style may have doomed him and why it took so long for him to son sco

on election night. and what made the president abandon his beloved ipad. we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. excuse me, sir i'm gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. i think your friends will understand. oh no, it's actually my geico app...see? ...i just uh paid my bill. did you really? from the plane? yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24/7. sounds a little too good to be true sir. i'll believe that when pigs fly.

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clint eastwood talking to an empty chair. mitt romney's comments about the 47% and president obama's poor performance at the first debate are all memorable moments in the final weeks of the 2012 campaign. but a new ebook tries to dig deeper revealing some interest behind-the-scenes wrangling and strategic battles waged by the obama and romney campaigns. book is called "the end of the line, romney versus obama, the 34 days that the election." jonathan martin is here. let's start with the concession. it took a long time whand was interesting is you were able to

connect the karl rove moment -- infamous karl rove moment of denial to romney's campaign's decision not to concede. there is an unknown character here that caused all sorts of delays. tell me about it. >> there was basically for over an hour a pause in the romney campaign's high command in boston -- >> because they were about to concede. right? they were all ready to go. >> political junkies out there who go to amazon and get this book will love the opening scene. we have the suite in boston at the westin on the 16th floor. and the chicago suite where the president is. sort of back and forth on election night what's going on. romney was ready to concede at 11:15. ten minutes later karl rove is on fox news saying hold on, you're calling ohio too soon. what we found out, chuck, is that both carl at the fox studio in new york but also the romney campaign in boston was talking to the same person, scott jennings, who is romney's ohio campaign director who was hold

up at a hotel in columbus. he was hitting refresh on the state and county board of elections websites. he sees two things. provisional ballots that were still out and then secondly, he's hearing that in hamilton county, that crucial county around cincinnati, there are still precincts out that may be favorable. so he tries to do the prudent thing and say let's be careful here because i'm hearing that there's still some good precincts out for us. because of that the romney folks said, all right, let's hang tight. they stop the advance guy from -- who had already made the call to start the wheels in motion to -- >> where romney was going to call the president, things like that -- >> makes the movement from the hotel to the podium. that will started. the advance guy has to call back four people and say, stop, stop, stop. for every an hour -- >> it is no bill daley and al gore. >> it was going to that. they even drafted a speech for paul ryan to give down at the podium saying folks, go home,

we'll see you tomorrow morning. they were nearing that. what happened was they got portman on the phone, senator portman from ohio on the phone. he says the provisionals region gnt to go our way, first of all of. second, we're going to know the results in hamilton county and everywhere else in a matter of minutes or an hour or so. let's not have paul go down there. >> now let's talk about what happened on the obama side of things. one person -- you guys wrote about this -- valley jarrett. what was her role in the campaign or not? she traveled with the president quite a bit. you guys implied maybe she was -- had been pushed out of the inner circle? >> after the president's performance in denver and widely panned, she was fiercely critical of the staff for not preparing president obama in her eyes for that first debate. what we found out is that it was basically created a sort of bad vibe, that the vibe was obviously already not good after denver and it was really irritating to a lot of senior obama folks. she was in demand as a surrogate

anyways. some of the obama senior staffers gently nudged her to do more surrogacy in the following weeks of the campaign to get her off the obama -- >> what's the ultimate explanation you guys found out about what happened first debate? >> that he had a hard time ever taking romney seriously. he would say at times that this guy's barely human. he just could not get his arms around taking romney seriously and i don't think he seriously prepared for what was going to happen. he just went in there -- >> finally the cheap ad that the romney campaign ran late in ohio. whether or not it moved votes either obama's way or not, it was considered a controversial ad because it just sort of -- who made that decision to put the ad up and was there regrets? >> stewart stevens, the campaign strategist made the ad. he's taken responsibility for the ad. we found out both senator rob

portman and paul ryan were against doing that ad. they wanted something though on the bailout. >> portman wanted something. >> something much earlier on but not that ad that played the whole china card. paul ryan wanted to do an ad earlier on framing the issue in janesville, his hometown, where there was a shuttered gm plant. the romney campaign trying to play catch-up at the end of the campaign and address issues that should have been addressed months ago where romney was on the auto bailout. they never wanted to talk about it because there was a thought that's playing into obama's terrain, let's not go there. >> the most interesting thing that i think has not been reported, if you will, there wasn't a lot of in-fighting in romney world. was there not disagreement? did everybody just buy into the stewart way of doing things? >> stewart was a fairly polarizing figure but comparatively to other campaigns, they did get along pretty well. we found out that ed gillespie at the end of the campaign was trying to do more with hispanics and women and he did run into

stewart stevens some. >> but nothing like the tension you normally would expect in a losing campaign. >> not like sort of kerry '04 or certainly mccain '08. nothing like that, no. jonathan martin, the ebook -- >> download it now. >> anywhere? >> itunes, amazon.com or go to politico.com. the link is on the top of the screen. whatever device you want. $2.99. >> congratulations. the fiscal talks teetering on the brimpk collapse or are they on the verge of a deal? the gaggle will be here next. but first the white house soup of the today -- tomato basil. check out our website, rundownonmsnbc.com. we'll be right back. victor! victor! i got your campbell's chunky soup. mom? who's mom? i'm the giants mascot. the giants don't have a mascot! ohhh! eat up!

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make-or-break time for fiscal cliff talks? perhaps. between president obama and speaker boehner, they're close to reaching some sort of conclusion. are we going to get a deal today or are we going to find out that basically they can't get a deal? joining me now, democratic strategist jamal evans and republican pollster kristin. "time" magazine announced their "person of the year." they went with their what would look appropriate in 30 years. it makes the most sense. the 2012 was the dominant story. he won. >> well, looking forward, we also think that here's a president who's re-elected as the votes have trickled in, we now know larger margin than on election night. >> only five other presidents have had 51% or more. >> i believe fdr was the last one to do it twice in a row. last democrat.

sorry. >> eisenhower was the last one. >> the president has this interesting new coalition that reflects a demographically changing america and i think he feels like this election in some ways matters more than the last one. some people thought the last one was lightning in a bottle. the country seemed to be going completely off the rails. >> i am glad you guys didn't try to be too clever. didn't put the mirror on the front page and all that -- i'm teasing! i'm teasing. it is a traditional pick. >> 30 years later when we look back at this -- >> he will be the most influential. >> -- regardless of the politics, this is a major event in american life that barack obama's president of the united states and he got re-affirmed as president of the united states. >> it is in keeping of of the tradition of obama won in '08 and bush won in '04 -- >> bush i think is the only one who's gotten it the year of his election and re-election. other presidents have gotten it twice. not in the -- it is not a

predictable pattern. >> kristin, i'm going to make you try to explain to us what is john boehner up to today. is he trying to -- because he could be trying to scuttle the deal. he could be trying to gain more leverage with the president or he could be trying to prove a point to the republican conference saying, guess what? we don't have the votes to do it our own way. >> i think he's trying to make the case that we want to keep tax rates where they are, 98% more than 98% -- >> up. to 99.481% is whoo michael steele. >> he's trying to push back against this whole narrative that republicans will going to be holding things hostage for rates on the wealthy. this idea of creating a new rate for millionaires and billionaires originated with democrats. i think what this is, it is a way of trying to diffuse this democratic line of argument that you would be likely to hear especially if we go over. >> can you get the votes? is there we'll see. you haven't heard a lot of loud push-back on this for the moment. i think what's also the trouble,

if you could be forgiven for thinking over the last few weeks tax rates are the only things on which republicans and democrats disagree. this is really bringing to light things about entitlements, spending, there are so many other things on the table. this is shifting focus hopefully away from those. >> they need a deal, no doubt they need a deal. yes, they think they can win the politics of this if there is no deal. he has the bully pulpit in january like nobody's business. inaugural, state of the union. but if he doesn't get a deal he's not going to get a lot done in 2013 and he'd rather get something done in 2013 and get a deal even if it is a little painful. right? >> yeah, but they could wait. right? one of the first lessons i learned when i came to this town is no deal is done before it's due. we're now at the point where things have to get done. they always look darkest before the done. >> or darkest before it goes really black. >> that's mccain's line.

>> so i haven't lost all hope but i do think in the white house from a policy perspective you can go over this cliff and you do look up and you say, we got most of what we want, time to restructure the fiscal picture for the united states. >> this is where i'm scratching my head a little bit. i don't know how boehner can convince some of these conservatives to make a vote on something that may not become law, it is a plan b. if he cuts a deal with the white house, there's a whole bunch more of these guys that don't have to vote for it at all. >> i'm as mystified by it as you are. you don't make people vote for something that's not going to count in the going to count in the end. i think to some degree -- >> a risky vote. >> it is significant that republicans are not quite as absolute about some tax hikes as they were just a couple of weeks ago there ago. there is some flexibility there. there is an opening to raise

taxes. >> monday night, we know publicly 400 and they're at this and they're like right here. they are, like, right here. if boehner -- i mean, it will take them four hours to resolve. >> christmas will get this deal done. >> i think. we'll talk about clinton and benghazi after the break. trivia time. of the 13 presidents pro tem who served since 1945, name the only one not the most senior senator of his party. the answer, senator arthur vandenberg, the second ranking senate republican when he was elected to the post. arthur capper was the senior republican at the time. but he was in poor health and vandenberg was a favorite of the party leaders. if you got a political trivia question, e-mail us at daily rundown at msnbc.com. we'll be right back. oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement.

oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. hurry in and try five succulent entrees, like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. just $12.99. come into red lobster and sea food differently. and introducing 7 lunch choices for just $7.99. when you give a child a toy, it has to work. ♪ make just one someone happy

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the stakes were made, lives were lost, and lessons need to

be learned. first america cannot retreat from a dangerous world. it is important for us to be there, to not only protect our values, but protecting american citizens. second -- >> that was just moments ago on capitol hill. dick durbin, senate number two, for the democrats. let's bring back our gaggle. that was in response to the benghazi report. jamaal simmons, secretary clinton has been teflon, if you will, susan rice attracted all of the criticism in the early days and yet this report puts it right at the doorstep of the state department and she runs the state department. >> before the election, she came out and said i accept responsibility. and the recommendations came out, she said i will accept all the recommendations from the report. i think she's trying to do her best to own this as from a responsibility perspective. she's a popular person. people think she's done a good job at her job.

>> certainly was a -- she was supposed to testify tomorrow. we know due to illness, she can't. deputies will testify in her place. she may testify in january. some say she better testify before john kerry's confirmed. >> it is the illness that launched a thousand conspiracy series, quite skeptical. but the incentives changed for republicans. during the campaign, they preferred to pin this on obama herself. hillary is a popular figure. then susan rice was going to be a nominee, you had a chance to hand obama a political defeat. now he's re-elected, all the incentive is to go after hillary. >> there is probably going to be -- she won't be teflon the way she was with republicans. >> no, i don't think so. during the presidential debate, you had the moment where president obama said don't come after her, come after me. and then same thing with susan rice, don't go after her, come after me. this is clearly --

>> she'll have to do this. clean up the testimony. shameless plugs, quick. >> mark glaze at the raven group, they're doing a great job in the context of the discussion. >> washington going into a -- they're giving away a thousand books to help improve literacy. >> time magazine person of the year issue. not just obama is the runner up, great profiles and people that were close seconds. beautiful pictures, wonderful story by michael shearer. >> fair enough. thank you, sir. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." up next, chris jansing. i'll see you after 11:00 for the president's big announcement on gun violence. it's a new day. if you're a man with low testosterone, you should know that axiron is here. the only underarm treatment for low t.

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